


Shadow Agate

by Thorinsmut



Series: Smoke Sapphire [3]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Companion Piece, F/F, M/M, PTSD, Sadness, Smut, appropriate warnings in chapter notes, collection, cute family, tags added as needed, the idea of soulmates is creepy, utter lack of communication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-06 03:37:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorinsmut/pseuds/Thorinsmut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Shadow agates exhibit an optical effect of movement across the bands. Depth is perceived from light penetrating and bouncing between alternating clear and opaque layers. When you move these agates back and forth, shadows can be seen racing across the surface.</i>
</p><p>A companion piece to Smoke Sapphire, detailing Nori and Dwalin's story in it all. </p><p>Chapter 1 - Wander Far - Why Nori doesn't believe in Ones<br/>Chapter 2 - Dwalin's view - Dwalin's view on his and Nori's estrangement<br/>Chapter 3 - Expectations - Nori's view on his and Dwalin's estrangement<br/>Chapter 4 - Spoken - Nori and Dwalin finally talk<br/>Chapter 5 - Sparring - family bonding with weapons<br/>Chapter 6 - Braids - a family<br/>Chapter 7 - Wedding - because I couldn't help myself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wander far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why Nori doesn't believe in Ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **!!!WARNING FOR ALL THE THINGS!!!**  
> I am not kidding. This is not a nice story.  
> infidelity  
> domestic abuse/violence  
> emotional abuse  
> reproductive coercion  
> suicide  
> fire  
> morbid situations  
> also, a One is a terribly creepy idea. It just is.  
> PLEASE BE WARNED

Nori stood on the end of the dock for _hours_ , from the high tide just before dawn when the dark salt waves splashed over the worn wood, until low tide when the sun was high in the sky and the sea had swept out away and the dock was high and dry.

“Wander far, love.” he whispered, and turned away back to the mountains.

 

Maybe it started at his mother's knee, his beautiful mother who'd never wedded and bore three sons of three different sires.

Maybe it started with her gentle hands combing his hair and answering _why_ she didn't have a One when everyone elses Amad seemed to.

“It's not that I don't love, dear-heart.” she explained, “I loved them _all_ well enough, I could have been happy with them, but it never suited me to tie myself to any _one_ of them. Maybe I just have too much love for any one person.”

 

Maybe it was watching Dori, apple-cheeked Dori who was maybe even more gorgeous than their Amad, so sturdy and solid and strong with his intricate braids.

Craft-wed Dori, close to the Maker's stone and never wishing for love or sex, who was approached by _so many_ Dwarves of all kinds begging for his hand, claiming he was their One and they would have no other.

He turned them all away, with extra sharpness for those who would _dare_ try to make him feel guilty for their unrequited love.

Maybe it was watching most of his spurned suitors eventually marry others and claim _them_ as their One.

 

If it _did_ start before, Nori did not realize it until Ljomi.

Ljomi who'd _always_ been there, wee little dark eyed darrow following Nori around. Tiny-but-fearless Ljomi who _worshiped_ Nori... Nori got them into much more trouble than they were _ever_ caught for.

Ljomi was up for _anything._

Getting into trouble was more fun with a friend, and getting into it with Ljomi was the funnest.

Nori ate at Ljomi's house just as often as Ljomi ate at Nori's house, so both their Amads considered them their honorary children.

Sometimes they were mistaken for siblings, which made them laugh because they didn't look _anything_ alike.

They grew up together, there on the poor edges of Nurgathol, and as they grew up they grew in different directions but never grew apart. Nori chased the edges of danger, knives and lockpicks and shiny things that didn't belong to him – he survived and _thrived_ in the deadly warren that was Quartz street, making a name for himself young. Ljomi found hir calling in smithwork and the hammer in the heat of the forges.

If you asked Ljomi who hir best friend was, ze would tell you Nori without hesitation.

If you asked Nori you'd get a big smile and a threateningly placed knife for asking too many questions that weren't your business. Anyone who was close enough to _know_ didn't have to _ask_. It had _always_ been Ljomi.

 

Ljomi's courtship with Lord Ginnarr was a whirlwind, and Nori climbed in hir window with a stolen bottle of wine the night before hir wedding. It was too sweet for either of their tastes but they drank it all anyway, right from the bottle – sitting on the floor giggling like they were naughty darrows again.

Nori saw the happiness in Ljomi's dark eyes as ze talked about hir One, and he was happy for hir.

Ljomi was young for it, and the courtship was rushed, but everyone said _that_ just showed how very in love they were – and how lucky and beautiful a thing it was that Lord Ginnarr had finally found his One, with him long expected to remain single all his days.

They were married, and for a time Ljomi seemed happy, and everyone said how lucky it was for little Ljomi born to not-much to have snagged hirself a Lord.

Ljomi was almost never seen out without Lord Ginnarr, and everyone said that it was so _cute_ how in love they were.

Ljomi stopped spending time with hir old friends, was only ever seen with Lord Ginnarr and his friends, and everyone said how _grown up_ Ljomi was getting, moving on from hir playful youth.

Ljomi stopped working, stopped going to the forge even though ze _loved_ hir work, and did not even visit hir family anymore, and everyone said that little Ljomi was getting above hirself and forgetting where ze came from.

Ljomi didn't take visitors anymore, but it took more than closed doors and locked windows to keep _Nori_ out of a place he wanted to be. He waited until Lord Ginnarr was out and Ljomi was in, and snuck in for a visit.

Ljomi wore gorgeous clothes and a hunted expression. Hir joy at seeing Nori transformed almost immediately to fear as ze tried to get him to leave. Lord Ginnarr had a _temper_ , though he did love hir, but he wouldn't _like_ it if Nori were here.

It took fast talk but Nori convinced Ljomi that it was an adventure, just like when they were naughty darrows getting in trouble, and that no one would ever know.

He _was_ a professional, after all.

They hid together under the oversized dining room table and ate a stolen tangerine Nori had brought for them while Ljomi talked about hir life as though ze hadn't had a friendly ear for _months_.

It didn't sound _right_ , some of it – everything 'what Ginnarr wants' and 'what Ginnarr allows' and none of it what _Ljomi_ wanted.

Ljomi twisted the intricate silver bracelet on hir wrist when he mentioned that, arguing back that yes he was _strict_ , but ze _loved_ him.

Lord Ginnar was hir _One_ , what was ze supposed to do?

Nori left before Lord Ginnar came back, but he promised to come visit again soon.

And he did.

He visited whenever he could.

Things still didn't seem to be _right_ , but Ljomi swore him to secrecy, made him promise not to tell anyone anything about their visits so he couldn't even get advice – but it didn't seem right to him.

Nori didn't like the way everything Ljomi did seemed to revolve around trying to make Ginnarr happy. He didn't know if it was maybe just the jealousy of being able to spend less time with a friend, but it didn't seem like Ginnarr spent as much effort trying to make _Ljomi_ happy – or much of any at all.

Nori didn't like the way Ljomi referred to hirself sometimes, as plain, as poor, as worthless, as _common_ – and they'd grown up on scraps but they'd never learned _that_ on their Amad's knees. They had not-much but they'd never doubted they were worth _everything_. Even Nori who knew he was a scoundrel and a bad influence who should stay away from Ori never doubted his worth. It was _Ginnar_ and his friends who were teaching Ljomi this, that ze wasn't worth anything, and it wasn't _right_.

But Ljomi _loved_ him, he was hir _One_. What was ze supposed to do?

Things got _very_ bad after the time Nori came to visit and Ljomi told him, with a quickly hidden look of distaste, that they'd been trying for a baby.

“Why?” was all Nori could ask, because it didn't make _sense_ , and right there on the floor eating stolen pomegranate seeds with him Ljomi explained that it was hir duty as a bearer, and that it would make Ginnarr happy.

“But you've never _wanted_... you always _hated_ the idea!” he protested, laying a hand on hir belly, and “you don't even _like_ fucking that way!”

Ljomi looked him right in the eye, hir once-sparkling dark eyes flat and hopeless, and asked him what _good_ a commoner like hir even _was_ if ze couldn't even bear an heir for hir husband's line?

And Nori, who could bluff his way through the worst Quartz street could offer without blinking, cried.

It was like his tears were what unlocked Ljomi's, and he rocked beautiful little Ljomi in his arms and told hir that ze was worth _everything_ just for hirself, the pomegranate seeds scattered and forgotten. He told Ljomi that _no one_ had the right to make hir bear when ze did not want to.

Ljomi asked how ze could even say ze _loved_ Ginnarr if ze wouldn't even do this for him? Because ze _did_ love him, he was hir _One_ , and how else could ze prove it?

Nori told hir that anyone who would ask that of hir didn't love hir themselves. He convinced Ljomi, sweet Ljomi who'd once been so happy and fearless, that ze could say no to Ginnarr, _should_ say no to this, keep this part of hirself for hirself.

They made love the way they'd used to when they were young and happy and did _everything_ together, even though it was wrong – but it did not _feel_ wrong to him. It felt _right_ to give that to Ljomi, to remind hir that hir body could be touched respectfully, could be used to give _hir_ pleasure in the way _ze_ liked, and not just as a vessel for someone elses.

He left hir with a kiss and a reminder that ze was worth _everything_.

It was the pomegranate seeds, forgotten scattered on the floor, that betrayed them.

An amateur mistake.

Nori knew right away that something was wrong when Ginnarr hired guards to keep anyone from coming and going from his house – but it took more than guards and locks to keep Nori out of somewhere he wanted to be. It took him a few days before he could get in, not long enough for the bruises to fade.

Ljomi clung to him sobbing when he found hir, and ze didn't have any _hope_ left. Nori tried to get hir to come with him, to _leave_ , present hir bruises before a judge and have Ginnarr shamed for this, but Ginnarr had argued all his arguments already. He was a noble, a _lord_ , and what was Ljomi? Who did ze think the courts would side with? A well respected noble or an unfaithful commoner who would not even do hir duty to bear? Nori didn't know enough of law to _know_ how it would work, it was not the bits of the law that normally concerned him.

He tried to get hir to leave with him, to _run_ , but Ljomi asked what the _point_ even was? Ze was Ginnarr's _One_ , even if ze or Ginnarr _died_ ze would still belong to him in the halls of Mandos. Why run if ze would just be back with him eventually, and Ginnarr angry at hir?

Nori curled up with Ljomi, wrapped up in a blanket on the floor while they shared a stolen sugar cake, and he talked until he _thought_ he'd convinced hir to run with him.

He had a few favors he could cash in to get the money for it, since Ljomi had no access to even a penny of hir husband's money, and they would make a life together somewhere far away – as friends, as honorary family.

Nori had heard good things about the Iron Hills, or maybe they'd travel even further east to the Orocarni.

They could cut their ties and run _wherever_ they wanted. They were young and the world was open to them.

He thought he'd convinced Ljomi, and he _promised_ that when ze died he'd burn hir body so hir spirit would wander free like the burned Dwarves of Azanulbizar instead of returning to the stone and finding its way to the halls of Mandos to belong to Ginnarr.

Ljomi agreed, and Nori crept away to go make the preparations, promising hir that he'd be back in one month – just _one_ month and ze would be free.

“Be brave.” he asked, kissing hir forehead.

“I will.” Ljomi promised, dark eyed Ljomi who'd _always_ been there, smiling at him through hir bruised lips, and sent him on his way with an affectionate touch to his cheek.

 

Ljomi was a smith, or _had_ been before Ginnarr took that away from hir.

Ze _knew_ fire.

Everyone said what a tragedy it was, gone so young, and leaving behind poor Lord Ginnarr who was so in love. No one seemed to ask _how_ ze had ended up in a room with everything flammable ze could find in the house, all of it soaked with lamp oil, and the windows and doors blocked _just_ right to make the fire draw fast and fierce. Ljomi was hopeless and desperate enough that ze turned a room into a furnace and lit it with hirself inside.

All that was left when the fire burnt out was melted jewelry, the gemstones cracked from the heat, and a few charred teeth.

Nori stole them from hir grave among Ginnarr's family, replacing them with lead and blackened pig's teeth – the oddest forgery job he'd done yet.

“I would have done this _for_ you.” he whispered, wrapping what was left of hir up in a square of silk. “You could have _lived_ first.”

He ground it all into a fine dust and carried it west to the sea. At high tide just before dawn he stood on the end of the dock and opened the little packet of silk, let the breeze flowing down from the mountains carry it out to the water, and the piece of silk with it, fluttering out into the dark.

He stood silent vigil for Ljomi as the sea retreated, until low tide when the when the sun was high in the sky and the sea water had swept out and away, carrying Ljomi with it.

Maybe it started at his mother's knee, but Nori did not realize it until he set Ljomi free the only way he could.

The whole story of 'Ones' was ugly, and _wrong._

If it weren't for that story and the belief that ze could only love once, maybe Ljomi would have left before things got so bad.

If it weren't for that story and the belief that ze was bound to hir abuser forever, maybe Ljomi wouldn't have felt like hir only choice was to burn.

“Wander far, love.” he whispered, because he _did_ love hir, and he _would_ use that word for what he felt. He and Ljomi had decided young that they were not each other's One, but he loved hir just the same.

Nori's boots rang hollow on the dock as he walked back up to solid ground.

He would believe in love without believing in _Ones,_ and he knew it would be hard.

He could love as many Dwarves as he loved, but he could never _say_ it.

They would not understand, and he _would not_ be bound.

He spared one last glance over his shoulder toward the sea that would hold brave Ljomi forever - dark eyed Ljomi who'd always _been there_ and never would be again. He could only _hope_ that the sea would keep hir spirit wandering safe from Ginnarr.

He turned back to the mountains alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My theme song for Nori and Ljomi is this:  
> https://soundcloud.com/ironandwine/boy-with-a-coin
> 
> Now with art of Nori and the sea by the wonderful Sparkle:  
> http://asparklethatisblue.tumblr.com/post/71852127147/wander-far-love-nori-by-the-seaside-inspired


	2. Dwalin's view

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dwalin's view on his and Nori's estrangement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I will give Dwalin and Nori a happy ending, but it is not this chapter.

The first time Maylin left to spend the night with Leis, Dwalin wasn't expecting anything but to spend the night alone.

After the whole debacle of trying to speak to Lady Dis – he didn't even want to _think_ about the mess that had been – the thief had disappeared out into the streets of Nurgathol, only to be found if he _wanted_ to be found and he _didn't_.

They had their arguments – Nori's ridiculous support of Bofur's hopeless obsession with Bilbo had been the catalyst of the latest. Nori didn't seem to care how offensively disrespectful it was to Thorin – but then again, Nori didn't believe in love.

They had their arguments now and then, but Dwalin hadn't expected Nori to _leave_ because of one. Nori didn't believe in love, and Dwalin wouldn't force the unwanted emotion on the thief, but he'd expected Nori to stay around.

He'd come to depend on that, but maybe being back in his old haunts Nori had his old friends back and didn't _need_ Dwalin anymore. Maybe he'd only stuck with Dwalin in Erebor from lack of choice.

They had their arguments, but Dwalin took Maylin home expecting Nori to join them, but he hadn't. He'd gone to bed expecting Nori to come climbing in the window to see him, but he didn't.

Dwalin woke up in the morning to a house containing just him and his daughter, and he hadn't been able to properly introduce Nori and Maylin over breakfast as he'd fondly dreamed of – he'd just _known_ they would get along. All his plans for trying to keep Nori from corrupting Maylin _too_ much were completely unneeded.

He'd consoled himself that maybe something important had come up that the thief needed to deal with, that he'd come back around in a day or so, but he hadn't.

By the time Maylin went to spend a night with her cousin the princess Leis, Dwalin wasn't expecting anything but to spend the night alone, anymore.

Nori didn't believe in love, Nori was _gone_ from him, and Dwalin would be alone because he _would not_ have another.

He'd been sitting after dinner, going over the condition of his knuckledusters, when he'd spotted a distinctive shape moving out of the corner of his eye.

Nori had darted back the instant Dwalin raised his head, but Dwalin could be fast – or maybe Nori _wanted_ to get caught – and he'd grabbed the thief and pinned him to the stone wall.

Dwalin was _angry_ , but before he could demand an explanation or _anything_ Nori had squirmed against him with that hungry smile of his, and the tin of salve made an appearance, and he'd fucked the thief instead. His body knew Nori's so well, wanted it so badly, it was hard to resist.

It had been fast and hot and rough, the way they'd fucked before they _liked_ each other... or at least, before Dwalin liked Nori. Nori's legs were wrapped tight around Dwalin's body, arching and grinding with everything he had into each thrust as Dwalin pounded him into the wall. Dwalin left the deep marks of his teeth on Nori's neck and shoulders and arms, and Nori left the stinging marks of his nails on Dwalin's back and shoulders, drawing blood.

They snapped and snarled meaningless curses at each other the entire way through.

When it was over and Dwalin sank to the floor, his knees turned to jelly, he clung wordlessly to the thief he would call _his_ thief if he could.

Nori rested against him only briefly before he extracted himself, quickly making himself decent and sliding out through the window into the night.

And they had not _spoken_ to each other, through it all.

 

The second time princess Leis had a hard day and Maylin left to spend the night with her, Dwalin was not so surprised when Nori showed up. He looked up slowly, like he was trying not to frighten a skittish animal, but didn't move from where he was sitting when he spotted Nori. After a long silent moment of warily watching each other the thief walked over and slid into his lap.

He felt so good there, straddling Dwalin. His kisses were soft and hungry on Dwalin's lips and he never _never_ wanted to let him go, even if he _didn't_ understand why Nori had gone or why he was back.

He just _wanted_ him, any way he could have him.

“Nori...” he started, and he was going to ask _why,_ and ask him to _stay,_ and ask him what he'd been up to in Nurgathol because he'd loved to do that – hearing what messes Nori was getting into in Erebor and the clever ways he'd gotten himself out.

Nori's fingers across his lips stopped him, “Do you want me to stop?” he asked, his bright hazel eyes so unreadable when he wanted them to be.

Dwalin shook his head.

“Then shut up.” Nori said, there was no sting in his tone but Dwalin knew him well enough to know that once he'd set a rule he would _always_ stick by it.

Dwalin shut up and kissed the thief again.

Dwalin might not be able to _talk_ , but that didn't mean he couldn't try to _communicate_. He kept the kisses slow and gentle, lingering.

_I want you to stay as long as I can keep you_

He paid attention to Nori, making sure he wasn't getting bored, but he seemed as content to be slow tonight as Dwalin was.

He took his time working his hands under Nori's clothes to reach his skin, slowly, slowly stroking the soft skin of his narrow hips, his lean back with the thin scars of failed murder attempts across his ribs. He kept it sensual rather than sexual, for now, just reacquainting himself with his lover's body.

_I've missed you so much_

They divested each other of their clothes slowly and he touched and tasted every part of Nori as it emerged. Kissed his muscles, his scars, his curves, his bones – ran his hands across every inch of that perfectly imperfect skin.

_I love you, every part of you – good and bad, legal and illegal, honorable and dishonorable_

When things inevitably started to heat up, Dwalin picked Nori up and carried him into the bedroom, lay him gently across the bed he'd thought they would share.

_This place is for you, I want you here_

He did not rush here, either. He held and stroked the thief in all the ways he knew he liked best. Nori was not passive either, his clever hands everywhere and his kisses hungry. Nori's fingers unerringly sought out the heavy piercing through the head of his cock, toyed with it to make him groan with need and swallowed down every sound he made. Dwalin prepared Nori so carefully and thoroughly with his fingers and the salve that when he finally slid into the heat of him there was almost no resistance, just the smooth glide of their bodies joining perfectly.

_We fit together_

They rocked together gently, holding tight and so _so_ close, as close as it was _possible_ for two people to be with Nori's legs wrapped tight around Dwalin's waist and Dwalin's arms around Nori's lean body, cradling him to his chest. Their breaths mingled as they kissed soft on lips and necks, their eyes meeting as though Dwalin could push his thoughts through and into the thief.

_Stay with me_

He wasn't sure they'd _ever_ made love so tenderly, and when they were done he held Nori, cradled him close and did not let him go.

_Stay with me_

Dwalin was afraid he would come back to an empty bed when he left briefly, but when he returned with warm cloths Nori was still there. He cleaned the thief slowly, carefully, worshiping every part of his body. Nori silently watched him work with those beautiful eyes that where so unreadable when he wanted them to be.

_Stay with me_

He threw the cloths aside and wrapped himself around Nori, pulled the blankets over them both to sleep.

_You belong here, stay with me_

_Stay with me_

When he woke up Nori was gone, with not even a single shed hair left behind to show he'd been there at all.

 

The third time Maylin left overnight – to visit her dam's family this time – Dwalin was ready. He purchased a brace of pheasants from a hunter, and a bottle of oak-aged red wine to go with them.

He was almost eager. He never _had_ courted Nori properly, and if he could turn this into a chance for that...

He made the herb-roasted pheasant Nori loved so much, with roasted tiny red potatoes to go with it, and waited.

When he woke in the morning with a crick in his neck from falling asleep in the chair, Nori _still_ had not come.


	3. Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori's view on his and Dwalin's estrangement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise these guys will have a happy ending, but it's not this chapter either.

Nori didn't know what he'd _expected,_ fucking a nob.

Maybe that was the problem, he hadn't expected _anything._ He hadn't exactly been thinking with his _brain_ when he first went for the big soldier. Dwalin had just looked like a good time, and _Mahal_ he had been.

Best damn fuck _either_ side of the Misty Mountains.

They'd settled into something comfortable and fun and, he'd _thought_ , stable in Erebor. Dwalin seemed to like him well enough, and Nori would admit to himself that he loved Dwalin. Even though he was a nob he didn't _act_ like one most of the time, and he didn't ever push Nori for a promise he wouldn't give.

Nori had been happy with him in Erebor. He'd envisioned spending the rest of his life with him. Dwalin didn't mind that Nori sometimes exploded out of bed and woke up rolling under it or halfway out the window with knives in his hands - instincts that had saved his life countless times not _always_ working right. Nori slept light enough that wasn't caught by surprise and could get away from him when Dwalin started having the battle dreams and didn't know friend from foe. 

They were both maybe a little broken but they'd had something _good_ together, something Nori had thought would last.

It fell apart when they reached Nurgathol.

They'd been arguing about Bofur and Bilbo. Dwalin's uncompromising stance on Bilbo's belonging with Thorin set Nori's hackles on edge, and he couldn't exactly _share_ the stories Bofur had told him when he was deep in his drink, so he and Dwalin hadn't been _speaking_ much when they finally reached their old home mountain.

Trying to report to Lady Dis had been a disaster. They'd let Dwalin do the talking, since he _knew_ her, but it had not gone well.

Dwalin had pledged his service to her, which was not surprising, but she had all but flung it back in his face – asking how well his service had served her sons and brother. She asked him sharp-edged questions about her lost family and did not let him answer more than a few words before interrupting to ask another.

When Dwalin was near-broken by his guilt at having survived when Thorin and the princes had not, she dismissed them all.

That would have been bad enough but manageable, but Maylin met them as they were leaving the palace.

Nori had been nervous about meeting her.

He shouldn't have _bothered._

It wasn't as though Dwalin had ever _told_ him he wanted him to meet his daughter.

“Adad?” Dwalin turned at the word, open joy transforming the gruff soldier's face as he was tackled by his daughter.

She was built on his same lines, as solid as a mountain, with his same brown hair and an axe on her back. They were both laughing as Dwalin picked her up to spin her around. He kissed her forehead and her cheeks, calling her the mithril-born jewel of his heart while she exclaimed about how _much_ she'd missed him.

Nori had shared a smile with Bombur and kept out of the way, let them have their reunion, sure that Dwalin would introduce him.

When Dwalin looked up from her his face fell, and Nori followed the line of his eyes to see what could only be princess Leis watching them from hidden in the shadows. She was built smaller, like Fili had been, taking after her sire the same way he had with curling honey blond hair and Kili's big brown eyes.

“Oh princess...” Dwalin's voice choked on his guilt and sorrow, “I _tried_...” and that was all it took for her to run out and fling herself on her 'uncle Dwalin' to sob.

Nori tapped Bombur's arm to get his attention and they both retreated, let them have their privacy. Bombur left, eager to see his own family, and Nori found himself a hiding spot to watch for Dwalin to come out of the palace.

It was a kind of a game they played – unless he was _extraordinarily_ careful, Dwalin _always_ spotted him.

But not that time.

When Dwalin left the palace with his arm around Maylin's shoulders he didn't even seem to _see_ Nori.

Nori checked his hiding spot, and it wasn't _that_ good, but he managed to convince himself that Dwalin was just distracted and headed through the beautiful labyrinth of Nurgathol to hide himself in a _much_ worse hiding spot on the way to Dwalin's house.

Dwalin walked right past him a second time, and Nori could take a hint.

It wasn't as though he didn't _know_ that he was a bad Dwarf, a bad influence. Dori had told him to keep away from Ori enough times for _that_ much to sink in. Gloin was wary about letting Nori spend time with his beloved Gimli, and King Dain was not afraid to make use of Nori's skills but always made sure to keep him _far_ away from his children. Even Bombur had shyly invited Dwalin to bring Maylin to visit him and his family, but he hadn't offered the same to Nori.

He didn't know what he'd _expected_ , fucking a nob. That Dwalin would welcome Nori in to corrupt the only heir of his family's line?

Not likely.

It wasn't as though Nori didn't have any other responsibilities. He left Dwalin to his familial bliss and headed into the heart of the twisted warren known as Quartz street.

It wasn't as though Nori didn't have anything to occupy his time, living in the Quartz was dangerous enough _before_ his loyalties got so complicated. He had a reputation to reestablish and secure, alliances to hold and to break, layers and layers of half-truths to keep organized, and things to find out. He had more than enough to keep him occupied, sifting through whispers to find out if there really _was_ a slave trade originating in Nurgathol the way King Dain suspected.

It wasn't as though Nori didn't have other lovers he could turn to.

It wasn't as though any of that weren't true, but he _still_ found himself watching Dwalin and Maylin, and Dwalin either never saw him or never saw a reason to acknowledge him.

Dwalin served Lady Dis like a beaten dog, not even allowed to speak in her court but utterly loyal, and he trained in weapons with Maylin and princess Leis and soldiers young and old.

Maylin took after her father with the axe, all strength and brutal ferocity. Leis was more reserved, but with twin knives in a style very similar to Fili's she was reasonably formidable. Dwalin with his twin axes was, of course, terrifyingly beautiful when he let himself go.

Nori tested the edges of things, he couldn't _help_ it. Dwalin never seemed to see him either with or without Maylin at his side, no matter how obvious his hiding spots were. Nori managed to met Maylin in the street once when Dwalin wasn't with her, just a passing interaction she wasn't likely to remember unless her father had ever even _described_ Nori to her. He _was_ fairly distinctive.

It was clear by Maylin's utter non-reaction that he hadn't.

Nori had been dropped without a word as soon as he stopped being convenient.

He didn't know what he'd _expected_ , a thief fucking a nob.

He tried not to let it get to him, but he did _love_ Dwalin even if he never could say it because Dwalin would not _understand_.

He tried not to let it get to him, but it _hurt_ when Dwalin wouldn't notice him. On one particularly morose day, when Maylin had stayed at the palace with Leis and Dwalin was alone, he wondered if Dwalin would even notice if he broke into his house.

Dwalin caught him, of course. He hadn't tried _not_ to be caught. He looked up into the rage on the old soldier's face, and decided to fuck him rather than listen to Dwalin tell him to stay away. It was always easy to turn Dwalin from anger to lust – how he'd gotten into his pants in the first place.

It was a beautifully vicious fuck, there in the hallway of Dwalin's family home, and Nori took a particularly mean pleasure in marking him deep – drawing blood across his back with his nails and wondering how he was going to explain _that_. Nori's reputation was such that no one would comment on the big purpling bite marks Dwalin left on him – consistent _lack_ of marks might be more comment-worthy.

He left before Dwalin could tell him 'we can't do this' or 'stay away from us' or 'never again'.

Over the next week he saw Dwalin _not_ explain the marks he'd left by keeping them hidden, not even taking his shirt off when he was training with weapons, as though they were something to be ashamed of.

Not even in the early days when they only got along when they were fucking had Dwalin been _ashamed_ to be marked by Nori. In Erebor he'd showed off his bites and scratches during weapon practices and laughed off any teasing as just everyone being _jealous_.

Nori knew he shouldn't have, but he broke into Dwalin's house again the next time he was going to be alone, but this time the big Dwarf just seemed _sad._ Nori was hurt and angry, but he did love him so he climbed into his lap to cheer him up. It almost felt like things were _right_ again, there straddling Dwalin's lap, kissing him, until he seemed like he was going to say something. Nori didn't want to hear him say to stay away so he made things _very_ simple. If Dwalin wanted him to stay and keep doing what he was doing, all he had to do was remain silent. If he wanted him to leave, he just had to talk – and Dwalin was silent so he stayed and made love with him.

He made love to the old soldier and refrained from leaving marks he would have to hide, and stayed in his arms until he fell asleep.

It was worrying that Dwalin had made love to him like he was saying goodbye to him.

It was tempting to fall asleep with him, but he didn't want the unwanted-lover next-morning awkwardness, so he slipped away – leaving behind no traces of his presence that Dwalin might have to explain.

The next time Maylin was going to be gone it was a planned absence instead of an impromptu sleepover with her cousin. Nori had been more than half planning on dropping in to see if he could coax Dwalin into a fuck until he spotted him in the market cheerfully buying pheasants. Dwalin only _ever_ cooked pheasant when he wanted to impress someone. It was not the sort of simple meal he made when he was going to be alone – Nori had things to do, places to go, but he made the time to watch the old soldier.

It was when Dwalin bought a bottle of wine to go with it that Nori realized – two pheasants and a bottle of nice wine, that was a _courting_ type dinner Dwalin was making.

And why _shouldn't_ he court someone? He was a well-off Noble, made much more wealthy by the reclamation of Erebor. Dwalin was one of those expected to remain single, having found a dam to bear a child for his line to avoid the need for either Balin or him to wed, but it _did_ happen sometimes. There was Gloin, for example, who'd found and married his Nirma _years_ after he bore Gimli.

There was no reason why Dwalin shouldn't court whoever he damn well pleased to court... and Nori wondered if _that_ was what Dwalin had nearly told him when he visited the last time, that they had to stop because he'd found himself someone else.

And why shouldn't he? It wasn't as though _Nori_ didn't have plenty of other lovers he could turn to if he wanted to.

It was probably some soldier or other, one of the ones he trained with, someone honest and honorable and boring, a good influence for young Maylin, and Nori flicked a crude gesture toward Dwalin's back before he left his hiding spot to wind his way deeper into the city.

Dwalin had never courted _him..._ not that Nori had ever _wanted_ to be courted. Especially not by a Noble. He knew better than to let himself be bound to a One.

Nori spent his night kicking up hell on Quartz street and _not_ thinking about Dwalin. By dawn there had been four separate arrests, none of them of anyone he _liked_ , and two unrelated attempts on his life, easily avoided.

He kept far away from Dwalin's home. He didn't want to see the _face_ of whoever was probably leaving there.

What had he expected, fucking a nob?

Nori avoided Dwalin for a while. It wasn't as though he didn't have enough to keep him busy. He buried himself deep in the Quartz and kept his ears open and his knives handy.

It was harder than it had once been – with Dori and Ori far away in Erebor he couldn't go _home_ to visit them and be taken care of when he was tired. It was alright, though. It just gave him more chance to hear what he needed to hear, be where he needed to be.

He did visit with Bombur now and then, but only when he was out in the city without any of his children with him. He would rather not have to be _told_ to stay away, that he wasn't welcome.

When he finally did, against his better judgment, start watching Dwalin again it seemed that his courtship had failed.

When he broke into Dwalin's house when Maylin was away the big Dwarf seemed more than happy to fuck him.

Nori visited regularly over the winter. Sometimes Dwalin seemed angry and they fucked so rough and vicious a house less sturdy than Dwalin's would have broken under the assault. Sometimes Dwalin seemed sad and they fucked gentle.

Nori always left before Dwalin could talk. The one or two times Dwalin tried, he left. He didn't want to _hear_ it. He didn't need to be _told_ that no one could know about them, or to stay away from Maylin, or that Dwalin was ashamed to want him.

As long as he didn't _hear_ 'stay away' or 'never again', he could keep coming back.

It was not so bad as it could have been. Nori had had lovers before who didn't want anything but a secret fuck from him. He _preferred_ lovers who wanted to share more.

Dwalin had once been the best of those, until they set foot in Nurgathol and it was all ruined.

They'd settled into something less fun, less comfortable, and less stable than they'd had in Erebor, but still _something_ , by the time spring rolled around and Bofur won Nori a fair number of wagers by bringing Bilbo to Nurgathol with him.

It was either a very brave or a very thoughtless move, and Nori wasn't sure which until Bilbo wandered his way into Quartz street like a bunny into a starving wolf's den – but even bunnies have more sense than _that_.

It was extremely inconvenient to save him, Nori was in the middle of some very tense and delicate negotiations with three different parties, two of which were contemplating killing him, but he did manage to use it to his advantage. He was _so close_ to hearing what he needed to hear, and Bilbo was the perfect bait to dangle.

No one would _quite_ dare touch Bilbo if he had _any_ protection, seeing how he'd been the King's, but the idea he represented was too good to pass up – an adult who looked like a child – there would be demand for _that_. No one really dared call it that, since again Bilbo _had_ been the King's, but that's what he amounted to. Nori couldn't see the appeal, himself, but he dangled Bilbo as bait and then gave him back to Bofur, along with some advice for the overly optimistic miner, and listened to the plans coalescing around him – how to entice Hobbits to come work in Nurgathol's brothels. Personally, Nori didn't expect any of them to work. Hobbits seemed spectacularly uninterested in wealth, but it certainly couldn't hurt to let anyone _try_. It was for plans to get Hobbits _less voluntarily_ that he kept his ear out.

If there _was_ a slave trade growing in the bowels of Quartz street, _this_ was sure to draw it out.

The distraction of the problem Bilbo being with Bofur represented was useful too, and Nori made sure to take full advantage.

If taking advantage of these opportunities kept him busy and away from Dwalin that was _just fine_. The way the Nobles were talking about Bilbo belonging to Thorin, and Dwalin's wholehearted agreement with them, was enough to turn his stomach anyway.

But what had he expected in the first place, fucking a nob?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and Nori, some communication would be useful here. Very, very useful. Your rather unique blend of paranoia and insecurity is not serving you well here.


	4. Spoken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are finally said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!WARNING!!!  
>  for someone being restrained against their will in a somewhat-sexual situation
> 
> please be warned

It had been over a month and a half since Bofur brought Bilbo to Nurgathol, and in that time Dwalin had not seen Nori.

It was longer than Nori _usually_ went without breaking into his house, but not unprecedented, and wouldn't have been so worrying if there hadn't been a rash of killings on Quartz street. Dwalin heard city guards talking, in the weapon yards as he trained, about the bodies stacking up. _Some sort_ of an internal dustup had happened in there, a big one by the body count, but nobody really knew _what_ or _why_.

Once upon a time Dwalin would have dismissed it as just fewer criminals and _good riddance_ , but _Nori_ either lived there or spent a lot of time there and he _worried_.

Things seemed to have returned to normal on Quartz street, and Nori did not reappear – though he hadn't been one of the found bodies, Dwalin had checked – and it had been a bit over a month and a half.

Dwalin chewed on the stem of his long-spent pipe – familiar thoughts turning everything over and over in his mind until they were rubbed as smooth as the grip of a familiar axe.

Bilbo's _so tired_ eyes as he faced down the poison Dwalin snarled at him when all he could see was betrayal, before he was shown yet another way he'd failed in his duty – _forgive him, he hadn't known_.

“I pity Nori.” Bilbo had answered, and those words turned and turned in Dwalin's mind. What had he _meant_ by that, as an answer to Dwalin's accusation that he pitied Bofur for loving Bilbo? It only made _sense_ if Bilbo thought that Nori loved Dwalin, but everyone knew that Nori sneered at the idea of love. How many times had he seen Nori roll his eyes at someone talking of their One, or heard him say that there was no such thing, that it was a myth?

He rolled those worn memories over in his mind, each of them stinging because Dwalin _would_ have Nori as his One if he could.

Bilbo's face lined with the sorrow of the story that had moved the entire court and Lady Dis herself to tears as he offered her a tiny smile and explained how it was he _could_ love Bofur when he'd loved Thorin.

“As Nori would say, I can believe in love without believing in Ones...”

When had Nori ever said such a thing? Never in Dwalin's presence, and yet Bilbo said it as easily as if he _knew_.

It was taken as granted, well known, that Nori did not believe in love. Was it _possible_ that he just believed it in a different shape?

It did not make _sense_. A Dwarf loved only once. They bound themselves to their One and found themselves complete... but Bilbo's explanation of _how_ he loved turned in Dwalin's mind again.

He loved Thorin like a fire that burned him, and Bofur like a quenched thirst.

Dwalin was no jewel-tongued Hobbit to make analogies that way – he just knew he loved Nori like he wanted to wrap himself around the thief and never let him go. He didn't think he could love anyone else that way – he never had _before_. He'd had his crushes as a youth but nothing _serious_ , though they'd felt so at the time. There were other types of love too – he'd loved Thorin as a brother and a King, and Maylin, jewel of his heart, he was so proud of her it nearly hurt – but it was not the same at all as what he felt for Nori.

Still, if there was a chance Nori _would_ love him, in whatever way the thief _could_ even if it wasn't in the way of Dwarves...

But everyone _knew_ that Nori didn't believe in love.

Lady Dis standing before her court with reddened eyes saying that there had _never_ been a vow between Bilbo and Thorin, and it broke Dwalin's heart because he'd _seen_ it. He'd seen Thorin in love in a way he'd never seen before, and that was _gone_ now, erased. It broke his heart to see the relief on Bilbo's face, and he could not blame him in the slightest for it after what Thorin had put him through. Dwalin had failed him, failed them _both_. It should have been his duty to protect the King's Consort even from the King, just as it was his to protect the King even from himself, and Bilbo had not trusted him for that – had trusted _none_ of them when he was in his greatest need.

Dwalin did not _understand_ how things had gone so wrong, how Thorin could have done such a thing to the one he loved. He did not understand, but he did not doubt Bilbo for an instant. His words had held the hard ache of pain in them.

Lady Dis saying that all was unspoken and assumed between Bilbo and Thorin and so had no weight... and what had _ever_ been spoken between Nori and Dwalin?

Nothing.

They'd fucked before they liked each other, vicious and unaffectionate, and they'd kept fucking _after_ they liked each other – often still rough but friendly underneath. Nori had been surprised the first time Dwalin kissed him during sex, he'd reciprocated eagerly enough but they'd never spoken of how they felt about each other.

Nori had been surprised again the first time Dwalin kissed him when they _weren't_ fucking, but he'd seemed happy enough about it. They'd taken to kissing whenever the mood struck either of them, but they never spoke about how they felt.

Nori had all but lived with him in Erebor, there was hardly a morning when Dwalin didn't wake up with a thief in his bed. They'd spoken of work and family and politics and the restoration of Erebor and planned who's turn it was to cook and who's to do dishes, but they'd never placed any sort of a name on their relationship.

It hadn't seemed necessary. They were happy together... or at least _Dwalin_ had been, and Nori had seemed to be. He was affectionate and smiled often, at the least. There hadn't seemed to be a reason to speak anything between them. _Talking_ wasn't Dwalin's strong point and everyone knew that Nori didn't believe in love.

...unless he _did_...

Nothing had ever been spoken. _Everything_ had been assumed.

Now Nori was gone from him – everything unspoken and assumed and having no weight – weighing heavy on Dwalin regardless. He _still_ could not speak in Lady Dis' court, it could be years before she forgave his failures enough to let him speak, and he could not speak when Nori visited or he would leave, and it would be unfair to lay his woes on Maylin. He'd never been much of one for talking, but on too-quiet evenings all alone it felt as though he would crush to death beneath his own silence.

...and Nori's body hadn't been one of those found, but that didn't necessarily mean much. He'd been gone a long time and Quartz street was _dangerous_. He could be rotting at the bottom of an ancient mineshaft somewhere and Dwalin would never know.

He chewed on the stem of his cold pipe and turned the old thoughts over and over in his mind until they were as smooth and familiar as the well-worn handle of an axe.

He didn't know how long he'd been standing there when he finally noticed the thief very still in the shadowed hallway, watching him.

He watched him back, and he wondered if Nori could _see_ his relief at seeing him _alive_. Nori's hair was still up in three peaks, though done much less tall than Dwalin was used to seeing on him, but he was _alive_.

After a long silent moment of neither of them making a move, Dwalin carefully set his pipe aside – it tasted _terrible_ anyway – and reached a hand out toward Nori, palm-up in invitation.

The thief did not look _well_ when he moved into the light, dark circles under his eyes and a sallow cast to his skin. He placed his hand in Dwalin's, and Dwalin easily pulled him down into his lap.

He curled up there, too thin, too light, the edges of his bones too sharp as he turned his face into Dwalin's furs as if he were hiding.

Dwalin wrapped his arms around Nori tight and just held him. He did not ask him where he'd been, and what had happened, and what he could do to help.

He _did_ kiss him on the forehead and rest his cheek on the top of his soft hair and just _hold_ him.

He never wanted to let him go.

He wasn't sure how long they sat like that, but eventually Dwalin _did_ remember the soup he had on the back of the stove for his dinner – just a simple soup made from the leftover carcass of a roast chicken he'd shared with Maylin.

Nori made no protest when he carried him into the kitchen and put him in a chair, serving the soup up in a big bowl to him with a thick slice of buttered bread.

Nori made a small sound, almost a moan as he breathed the steam of the soup in, and then he tackled it with a will. He was over halfway through the bowl when he looked up at Dwalin – gnawing on the end of the loaf – and his hazel eyes went wide as they flicked to the empty soup pot and back to Dwalin. He picked the bowl up and offered it to him.

Dwalin shook his head, waving him back to it. He was a healthy Dwarf, he'd easily survive a single missed meal.

Nori clearly needed it more.

Nori's jaw tensed and it looked like he'd fight it for a moment, but then he slowly put the bowl down and picked his spoon back up. He didn't look at Dwalin as he finished.

When he was done, Dwalin put the empty bowl in the sink and led Nori back to the other room, sitting on the lounge this time and pulling Nori down to lie with him.

They stayed like that for a long time too, just close and comfortable together the way it had been at home in Erebor, the way Dwalin had hoped it would always be.

Eventually Nori shifted in his arms, soft lips against his neck and hands beginning to move with _intent_ across him. Dwalin groaned quietly to let him know his attentions were welcome, stroking down the thief's back.

They moved together slowly, gently, kissing and touching until Dwalin decided the lounge was not the place for it anymore and picked up the lamp to lead Nori to the bedroom. He wanted to hold and cuddle Nori warm and cozy in the blankets – if all he could have from Nori was the occasional silent fuck then he would get the most he could from it.

...if that really _was_ all he could have, unless Bilbo was right...

Nori helped him with his own clothes as he stripped the clothes from the thief. Nori's shirt was the last thing off of either of them and Dwalin... _stopped_... every last vestige of arousal leaving him at once.

He couldn't _breathe_ as he reached out to press his fingertips gently to the new bright red scar on the thief's stomach.

The sound of pain that escaped his throat was _not_ under his control, and in an instant he'd turned Nori around to see that there _was_ a matching scar on the back, a touch smaller. Maker's _hammers,_ they'd put a blade clean through him, a belly wound like that could _easily_ have killed him from infection even if not from blood loss outright. He pressed his hand over it, compulsively, as if it were fresh and he were trying to stop the bleeding.

As he turned the thief back around he spotted another that looked the same age – jittering across his ribs and slicing deep in the muscles that ran under his arm. That one looked dodged, but just _barely_. Another blow that could _easily_ have killed him. Dwalin's second hand came up to cover that one as he finished turning him back around so he could see his face, Nori's face so blank and his eyes so unreadable when he wanted them to be.

There, on his forearm... Dwalin grabbed Nori's arm to see better and that was _definitely_ another new scar, the kind of wound a fighter got when they had no choice but to block with an arm, to take that injury instead of a worse one in a losing fight with no better options.

A bad fight. A _very_ bad fight and Dwalin hadn't been there to help him, hadn't been at his side as he healed.

He whimpered as he pushed Nori to lay back on the bed, crawling onto him to hold tight, foreheads resting together as he tried to _breathe_.

Nori...

Dwalin pressed a kiss to the thief's forehead and then moved down his body, kissing the new scar on his forearm, the one across his ribs, and ending on the deadliest one on his stomach – hot and angry against his lips.

Nori squirmed away from his lips with a small 'nnn' of discomfort and Dwalin stopped – it must still be sore, too sensitive to touch. He rested his forehead against Nori's body, his breath across the thief's navel.

Nori was too thin, his bones too sharp under Dwalin's hands and _no wonder_ , he was recovering from wounds that could _easily_ have killed him.

Nori wasn't one of the bodies from the dustup on Quartz street, but with these scars... he was just a hair's breadth and a healer's skill away from it and Dwalin _had not known_.

He could have died and Dwalin would _never_ have had the chance to say any of the things he wanted to say... he could feel the weight of them in his throat, on his tongue – he was going to drown on them unsaid.

Dwalin had followed Nori's rules _long enough_. If he spoke Nori would leave and he might leave for good this time, but in that moment it felt worth the risk – to finally have the chance to _say_ the words that were crushing him.

“Nori.” he said, and his voice felt thick and awkward with the weight of it. The thief immediately tensed, drawing away, but Dwalin grabbed him, held him tight.

He _would_ say this, just once, and Nori would _listen_.

“I _love_ you.” it should not have come out so rough but it did, and he didn't have the chance to amend it as Nori exploded in violence, fighting his way away from him – or _trying_ to. Dwalin was bigger and stronger and Nori was weak from injuries. It was not easy to hold him, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he managed – slamming Nori onto the bed as he pinned him down.

“Let me speak!” he roared, meaner than he wanted with all the frustration of the past season and his fear for Nori's life tangling up in it, and he thought he'd _won_ until he felt the thin press of a blade against his throat. Where the fuck had Nori had a _knife_ hidden?

The thief's eyes glittered hard at him, too-lean chest rising and falling quickly as he panted from the fight.

“Get off me.” he growled, deadly-dangerous, and Dwalin laughed.

It was not a _good_ laugh, it almost could have been mistaken for a sob. After all this time, _these_ were the first words he heard Nori speak. He did not let go. What was love, anyway, but letting someone in close enough to slit your throat and trusting them not to?

“I love you.” He repeated, felt the blade press tighter to his neck, and did not look away from Nori's eyes, beautiful hazeled eyes. He did not _believe_ Nori would kill him, and maybe he would die for that, but he didn't think he would.

“I'll _never_ say you're my One.” He explained, “I know you don't like that, but I _do_ love you.”

There was no change in Nori's expression, no flicker in his eyes, but he'd always been better at hiding himself than Dwalin was. All Dwalin could do was make everything look like anger, sometimes even when he didn't want to.

“I miss you.” He said, “I want what we had in Erebor. I miss sleeping beside you, and talking with you, and hearing about the messes you get yourself into. And I can't _fix_ this if I don't know what went _wrong_. And you could have _died_ and I didn't _know_. I wasn't _there_ for you.”

“I want you back!” shaking the Dwarf who had a blade to his throat was not likely a good idea so he stopped, shoving Nori hard against the mattress. The thief's hard expression was still unchanging, but he hadn't cut him _yet_.

“I _miss_ you... and I love you even if you won't ever be my One. You don't have to give that to me, you don't have to give _anything_ to me.... I just _love_ you...” His voice was choking up, and his eyes were stinging so he closed them.

“I wanted to _say_ it. Just once.” He finished quietly. He took one big deep breath, feeling the achingly tense lines of Nori's body against his – he'd ruined it, he'd ruined everything, why had he thought this was a good idea? – and let him go.

The blade was gone from his throat, and Nori shifted away from him but didn't _leave_. It was a long moment before he dared open his eyes to see what Nori was up to.

Nori looked up at him, a line of confusion between his braided brows and still breathing hard from their struggle – and Dwalin felt sharp guilt for _that_. Nori was injured, he shouldn't be fighting him.

“Maylin?” Nori asked, quietly.

What about her?

“I thought you would get along.” Dwalin said. Children tended to like Nori and the stories he would tell. “I want you to love her as much as I do. I want her to love _you_ as much as I do. I wanted... I thought we could be _family_.”

So much, _so much_ that had been unsaid, but at least Nori wasn't leaving. Not yet. That had to be a good sign?

The thief's confusion only seemed to grow. He looked away from Dwalin and then back.

“But... I'm a bad influence...” Dwalin could practically _hear_ Dori's voice under Nori's, _years_ of being told he ought to stay away from his brother – he'd ignored it at the time of course, he was close with Ori, but it had stuck with him.

“Aye, you are.” Dwalin said, and Nori didn't _completely_ hide his flinch, “I'd get angry at you for teaching her dishonorable tricks, and be proud of her when she used them honorably. I wanted the _chance!”_ he shoved Nori in the chest... and that wasn't _right_. He shouldn't be reacting angry like this. He wasn't angry... or maybe he was. He didn't know. He wasn't _just_ angry though.

He gently stroked the soft hair on Nori's chest before he drew his hand back, “I don't know what went _wrong_.” he finished helplessly.

They sat in silence on the bed for a while, it felt like a very _long_ while. Dwalin had said so much, a hollowness in his chest where everything had been sitting. He wasn't being crushed by the words anymore, but he might still drown on them now that they were spoken.

At least Nori hadn't left yet. That had to be worth something, didn't it? That had to mean there was at least a tiny amount of hope? He couldn't quite look at Nori, fear maybe that what he saw would give him a false hope, or kill what little hope he had.

“You don't _see_ me anymore.” Nori's voice was quiet, “You _always_ see me, what am I supposed to _think_ when you walk right past, again and again?”

...he did?

In _Erebor_ they'd played that game, where Nori slunk around and Dwalin caught him at it. In Erebor Dwalin was used to keeping an eye out for him.

In Nurgathol he'd coped with the stresses by falling back into his old habits, and he'd never developed that habit here – it hadn't _occurred_ to him that he was supposed to be searching for Nori. But of course he realized Nori _had_ been slinking around watching him, how _else_ did he always know when Dwalin was going to be alone? There was no denying that Nurgathol had a lot more places to hide than Erebor did, but if Nori had _wanted_ to be seen he would not have used the best of them.

“m'sorry.” Dwalin said. “I'll try harder... if you want.”

There was silence again but this time Nori's hand took his, tugged him toward him. Dwalin lay down and arranged them into spoons, wrapped himself around the thief to hold him close, careful to avoid his fresh scars. He spread his hand across Nori's chest, feeling the beat of his heart. He nuzzled Nori's silky braid to the side and pressed a soft kiss to the back of his neck.

He never wanted to let him go.

“Who were you courting?” Nori asked.

“I... wasn't?” Dwalin didn't know what Nori could have been referring to. He'd not courted anyone.

“Pheasants and wine when Maylin was visiting her dam. Who were you courting?” Nori specified... and _that_ heartbreak he'd rather forget.

“...you.” Dwalin answered quietly, “I made it for you, but you didn't come.”

“...oh.” Nori's exclamation was soft in its surprise, and he fell back into silence in Dwalin's arms.

“You want me.” Nori's tone didn't _quite_ turn it into a question, but Dwalin answered it anyway, briefly squeezing him tighter.

“Every part of you, honorable and dishonorable, good and bad.” he promised into the soft skin of Nori's shoulder.

Nori laughed dryly. “...you ask so _much_.”

“I want what we _had_.” he answered.

Nori shifted himself, getting more comfortable in Dwalin's arms as he pulled a blanket over them as if he were going to _stay_ and Dwalin _hoped_...

“I've loved so many times...” Nori eventually said, “Some of them I don't love anymore. Some of them are dead and I still love them, some of them are alive and I still love them... so when I say that I love _you_...”

Dwalin couldn't help his sharp intake of breath, his heart pounding. He'd not _hoped_ to hear it back, and it still didn't quite make _sense_ , but if this was what Nori could give him – it was more than he'd hoped for from the Dwarf everyone knew didn't believe in love.

“one of many.” Dwalin said, nodding, so that Nori would know he understood what he was being offered. Not a One, but still _love_ in whatever shape Nori could give it to him.

“I won't say it where anyone can hear. I _won't_ be bound to _anyone_ as a One... but I _do_ love you.” Nori stated his limits, and Dwalin could live with them.

“I love you.” He answered, and he did not say 'with everything I am and with everything I have'. “I won't say it either.”

Nori made a small agreeing sound and seemed to _settle_ in Dwalin's arms, as if he belonged there – and he did, of course he did.

Dwalin kissed across his shoulder and the side of his neck, where he could easily reach. He gently stroked Nori's too-thin body, reacquainting himself with it – his hand coming to rest pressed against the heat of the fresh scar on the thief's stomach.

The injury that could so easily have taken Nori from him, and he never would have had the chance to _say_ , to _hear_ , to hold him again.

“Stay with me.” the words he'd wanted to say the most of all and he hadn't felt like he could. They came out begging, but Nori nodded.

“I will.” He said it like a promise, and once upon a time Dwalin wouldn't have put any weight on a thief's promise but this was _Nori_ , and he _knew_ Nori. He trusted Nori.

And he held tight to the thief who would be with him, but would never be _his_.

 

“Ada?”

Nori's eyes darted toward the window, the door, gauging the exits available to him. Dwalin put a steadying hand on his shoulder as he called back.

“In the kitchen, jewel of my heart.”

He took the breakfast porridge off the heat and smiled as Maylin stomped her way into the kitchen. Her eyes immediately traveled to Nori, who was nervously half-hiding behind Dwalin.

“Maylin, jewel, this is Nori.” he introduced the thief, not sure how _else_ to introduce him. He was more than a lover and yet not a One. Nori was just _Nori_.

Maylin blinked twice in surprise and then smiled slightly as she stalked across the kitchen, eying the way Dwalin's hand was on Nori's shoulder, Nori wearing one of Dwalin's big shirts. She squared herself across from Nori the way she might an opponent in weapons training, looking him over.

“So _you're_ the one he's been pining over.” She said, and Dwalin could feel Nori's surprised reaction through the hand on his shoulder.

“I wasn't...” Dwalin started to protest, cut off by a _look_ from her.

“ _Adad_...” she said dryly, needing no other word to communicate that she did not feel he was telling the truth. She turned back to Nori, folding her arms and leaning back against the counter.

“You don't look _well_.” she observed, “He's so _skinny_ , is he dying?”

“Maylin...” Dwalin warned. She'd got her bluntness from him, but _still_.

“Like to see _you_ look any better after a knife in the gut.” Nori answered her.

“Nori!” The _first thing_ he says to Maylin and it's half a threat? _Forges_ , Dwalin was going to turn into Dori, wasn't he? Forever trying and failing to have any sort of civility in his family. How had _Dwalin_ ended up in this place? He was the _last_ person to care about decorum!

“You were stabbed?” Maylin was suddenly _very_ interested. She had no scars of her own yet, so she had a strong interest in them.

“Clean through.” Nori answered, lifting the hem of his shirt to show off the angry red scar, turning to show the back too. Maylin whistled quietly, impressed. She'd been taught enough field medicine to have some idea how dangerous a wound it was.

“Why?” she asked, peering at it, “Where did you get it? That doesn't look _orc_...”

Dwalin hadn't asked that question yet. They'd had other things to discuss the evening before, and they'd gotten distracted making love – gently, Nori was injured – and relearning each other's bodies.

Nori dropped the hem of his shirt and accepted the bowl of porridge Dwalin was handing him, Maylin accepting hers too as Dwalin herded them toward the table to sit.

“There was a slave trade growing, down deep in the Quartz.” Nori answered, blowing on a spoonful of porridge.

Dwalin choked on his porridge while Maylin dropped her spoon in surprise.

“There's _slave traders_ in Nurgathol?” He gasped when he had his breath back. It would take every guard and every soldier that could be mustered up, but they'd rip up every last stone of Quartz street to stamp it out...

“ _Was_.” Nori specified, with a small smile, “I would have had it taken care of quiet, but it was whispered in the wrong ears and things got _messy_...

Dwalin ate his porridge and listened to Nori tell the story of the messes he'd gotten himself into, and the clever ways he'd survived – and he smiled.

He'd missed _this_ , so much... and now he was sharing it with Maylin too.

Though, considering how fascinated she was, he would have to explain that Nori's criminal life was _not_ so glamorous as he made it sound.

Still – he put an arm around him and smiled as the thief told his story.

He wouldn't have changed a thing.


	5. Sparring

The tenor of the fight changed when Dwalin finally managed to send Nori's long-handled mace flying out of his hands. A normal sparring match would have ended at that point, but this was _Nori and Dwalin_. Their fights were something close to famous in Erebor, they never lacked an audience when they sparred.

Dwalin sent Nori's long-handled mace flying out of his hands, and Nori rolled through the power of that blow and was up with his favorite curved knives in his hands. Where before Dwalin had pursued Nori, trying to get through his guard, to close with him and use the strength of his axes – now Dwalin was the one backing away as Nori tried to get in close where they were useless and his knives had the advantage. 

Normally Dwalin would have discarded his axes for grappling where his strength had the advantage when Nori got too close, but instead he called the end of the match when Nori got through his guard. 

Nori snarled, his blood still hot and more than willing to continue – it had been _far_ too long since he sparred with Dwalin. He was more than ready for some vigorous grappling, and then usually they had to find a little privacy for a hard fuck... but the warrior shook his head, eying the scar on Nori's stomach. 

...and Nori _wasn't_ at his best yet, true. His new scars ached with a dull throb clean through him, not enough pain he _couldn't_ keep fighting, but the healer would probably be angry at him again if he did. 

He blew out a deep breath to let it go and nodded to Dwalin, walking over to sit against the wall out of the way. The wall was cold and gritty against his shoulder blades as he drank some water and watched everyone else training with their weapons. 

Maylin disarmed her opponent to cheers, sending them tumbling with a roar that would have done her father proud. She flexed her powerful shoulders, sweat standing in beads on the bare skin of her back as her eyes swept over everyone, searching for her next opponent. Those her own age and size were dismissed without a second look, and her eyes fell on her father. 

Her chin went up, her shoulders back as she breathed deep. 

“You.” She said, pointing at him with her axe. She certainly didn't lack _confidence_ , going for the most powerful warrior she saw just because she was the best of her age.

Dwalin lifted his axes with a brief nod and squared himself against his daughter. She was _so_ like him, just smaller, though that might not always be true. 

They both roared as they began their match. Maylin was good, and she was fierce and strong utterly determined, but Dwalin was going to win. There was no question of it. 

She didn't have the strength to overpower him, the experience to outfight him, or the endurance to outlast him. 

Dwalin was not cruel, but he was no gentler on her than he would be any opponent. Maylin rolled through it as she hit the ground for the first time, screaming her way back into the fight with a wild light in her eyes. 

Near Nori, but not _too_ near, princess Leis was practicing alone with one of her knives while she watched her friend spar. She seemed to be trying something new, something she wasn't entirely confident with. She'd glanced at him a few times as she practiced, or he probably wouldn't have recognized that it was _his_ style she was attempting. 

The next time she looked over he had his knife out, demonstrating the proper backward grip, blade resting along his forearm. 

Once she had that down, he showed how to switch grips, the knife blade whistling deadly through the air as he slashed it up into sword grip. 

This she had trouble with, fumbling her knife again and again. He could _see_ her frustration growing, so he reached for her knife as he offered her his. 

She hesitated before she accepted it, dark eyes wide, and the problem was obvious immediately. Her knives were too heavy for her, she didn't have the finger strength to switch grips the way he did with a knife like this. She smiled as she managed the move with his lighter blade. 

Why would she fight with too-heavy knives? Surely she could afford better than... 

oh.

There on the handle, Fili's mark. Had he given this set to her when he left? Or before? Had she taken them up after she heard he fell? 

No matter the reason, he doubted she could be convinced to lay them aside, and she _did_ do well with them in the style she was familiar with even if she _should_ be fighting with lighter. Nori passed her blade back to her, accepting his own back. 

Her jaw was tensed, like she _knew_ he was going to tell her it was too heavy for her. 

“If you get a little leather ball full of sand..” He mimed the right size, “You can squeeze it, make your hands stronger.” They were usually used by Dwarves healing from injuries, but they worked as well for anyone. 

She smiled slightly in surprised gratitude, and he demonstrated a different move she could do without depending on so much finger strength. 

Leis was quick, even _with_ blades too heavy for her – she might someday rival or even surpass the brother who's hair and knives she carried. 

Out on the practice floor Maylin stumbled back to her knees as she tried to pick herself up again, panting like a bellows. She'd managed to hang on to her axe through everything, which was fairly impressive. Even at his best Nori didn't tend to keep his mace in hand that long against Dwalin. Maylin surged back to her feet, weaving slightly as she squared herself back against Dwalin – defeated and utterly unwilling to admit it. She would keep fighting as long as she was physically capable of holding an axe.

...oh, the warrior she would someday be... 

“Enough, jewel.” Dwalin said, lowering his axes, breathing hard himself, and Maylin sagged as she did the same. 

“I was _so_ sure... that _this_ time...” She panted, her frustration at herself clear. Dwalin smiled as he stepped up to her, hand on the back of her head as he knocked foreheads with her. 

“Someday.” he promised quietly, “Someday you will be better than me, and I will be _so_ proud of you.” He tugged teasingly at her beard as he drew back, “I already am.” 

“Ada...” She batted him off, but she was smiling now. 

“Water.” he ordered, gesturing her before him, and Nori poured cups for them both. Maylin dumped half of hers over her head, shook like a dog, and flopped down beside Leis to rest. Dwalin looked at her with that expression that made Nori ache sometimes because nothing like that was ever directed at _him_. 

But it wasn't fair to be jealous. She was his _daughter_ after all, his mithril, the jewel of his heart. 

“Yes, that way we can fight like _they_ do!” Maylin crowed when Leis showed her the move Nori taught her. Dwalin shot a wide-eyed look at Nori, who just grinned back with a quirked eyebrow. 

...as long as their fights didn't _end_ the way his and Dwalin's so often did...


	6. Braids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just talking in the dark.

Nori waved tiredly to Maylin from his place on the lounge, so he wasn't surprising her in the dark. She half-waved back as she sleepily shuffled to the kitchen.

There was the brief sound running water as she got herself a drink.

She was more awake when she returned, her hands twisting in the front of her nightshirt.

“Are you and Ada fighting?” she asked, her worry clear in her whisper.

“Nah...” Nori assured her, “He just has battle dreams, some nights, you know?”

“Oooh...” She said in sad understanding, “...isn't there anything we can _do_...” she looked toward Dwalin's bedroom.

“Not safely.” Nori had learned _that_ the hard way, “He'll come get me when he's ready.” unless he fell asleep – or sometimes he never woke himself up all the way at all. No matter. Nori had slept on _far_ worse places than the lounge. He tucked his blanket around himself closer.

Maylin went back to her room, but she returned quickly with pillows and a blanket and began making a pile of all the cushions in the room on the floor next to the lounge.

“I'll wait too.” She whispered with a smile.

Nori nodded. He got along well enough with Maylin most of the time, though he wasn't always sure what he was supposed to _be_ to her.

She was a _good_ kid, or else he might have had more in common with her.

Maylin settled into her cushion nest and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

Nori was drowsing off again when she spoke.

“...Nori?” her whisper was hesitant, as if she didn't want to wake him – not that he would have slept through it.

“mmm?' he answered.

“I can't sleep...”

“oh.” He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. If he were on a job and one of the younger thieves couldn't sleep he'd have them work on weapon maintenance and going over the plan until they were calmed down. If it were Ori he would have told a story, but he couldn't always tell which stories Dwalin wouldn't want Maylin hearing.

“When Leis can't sleep I braid her hair... would you braid mine?” she asked.

“m'not your kin.” he reminded, but gently. Being her father's lover wasn't enough to give him that familiarity. Having a parentlike bond with her would bind him to her family just as surely as if he let Dwalin claim him as a One.

She sank deeper in her cushions, huddling in a little on herself. Nori didn't want her to be sad, but he didn't think there was anything truthful he could say to make it better.

“Is it...” she pondered quietly, “like with Ada, you never say you love each other when anyone can hear? You could braid it and we could brush it out before anyone saw. I wouldn't even tell _Leis._ ”

“Maylin...” Nori drew back, _fuck_ when had she heard them say that? He'd thought they were _careful_. “Your 'da and I, we're not...”

not _what?_ They were so much, but nameless. Not anything most Dwarves would understand. Not part of the normal story the way it was told. She _knew_ that, she'd heard Nori say there was no such thing as a One enough times...

“You're like Bilbo Baggins, with Uncle Thorin and then Bofur, aren't you?” She said, propping herself up in her elbows to watch him, her eyes deep hollows in the darkness, “Love without a One.”

...and when had she heard _that?_ It wasn't the sort of story Dwalin liked her to hear. Still, he couldn't help but smile slightly. She was a smart kid, hearing things she shouldn't and putting them together.

“I've loved a lot of different people, in a lot of different ways.” Nori said cautiously... and if she were a few years older she probably would have turned that into a dirty joke... which, granted, would also have been true of him.

“And you love my Adad.” It wasn't even a question.

“He's not my One. There's no such thing.” Nori answered, but that seemed to be confirmation enough for her. She lay back down in her pile of cushions, still watching him.

“So you kind of _are_ kin.” she mused. “...but people would think you're Ones, so it's a secret...”

Too sharp for her own good, this one.

“I can keep a secret.” She told him confidently, “I've never told any of the secrets Leis told me.”

“Like what?” he asked, relaxing back down into his blankets on the lounge, and she snorted at him like she was disgusted by his pathetic attempt to get her to tell.

He hoped she _could_ be trusted to keep it, even if he'd never confessed to it. It would be a _mess_ if it started to get spread around that he and Dwalin were Ones, but Nori knew Dwalin would stand by him in denying it. He would have to be more careful in future, though. He wouldn't want anyone else to overhear him saying he loved Dwalin.

It was just... he'd never _had_ someone he could say it to before, someone who would understand what he meant when he said it.

“ _Will_ you braid my hair for me?” Maylin asked again, quietly.

Back to this again, even if she _could_ keep a secret...

“I can't promise I'll always be with Dwalin.” he told her. It sounded good to him now, but who knew what could change over the years?

“ 'kay.” she said, the directness of her gaze in the darkness making it clear that she did not consider the question answered.

“I can't promise I'll live very long.” he added, the fuckup that had been clearing out the slave traders in the Quartz had driven that home most recently. Life was dangerous and he was _good_ , but he wasn't invulnerable. Someday he'd be too slow for just that half a heartbeat that was the difference between life and death.

Maylin nodded, still waiting for her question to be answered.

“I'm not a _good_ Dwarf... there are people who would try to hurt you to get to me.” he told her. She knew already from the stories Dwalin would let him tell, but he couldn't warn enough.

“The Princess is the sister of my heart.” She answered flatly, as though she thought he was being intentionally dense – and of _course_ she would know about dangers like that, with Leis as her best friend and sworn sister. Maylin was young but she was _smart_ , she listened, she _knew_ things... but he still didn't know what to tell her. This was probably one of those things that should be discussed with Dwalin before he did anything.

“I won't tell. Promise.” she said, reaching for him with just her pinkie finger extended... and it probably wasn't the right thing to do, but he _did_ like her.

He reached out and locked pinkies with her, a child's promise. He hadn't done it since Ori was a child.

“I won't be bound, and we'll brush them out before anyone sees.” He told her, and waited for her nod before he let her go.

“A secret, like you and Ada.” she agreed, grabbing his hand and putting it on her hair.

Her hair was thick like Dwalin's, if a touch less coarse, and she relaxed in her cushion nest while he brushed his fingers through it, separating it into sections to braid it.

He was careful not to pull, feeling himself relax too as he worked with her hair... if they both fell asleep here...

“Maylin?” he asked.

“hmm?” she answered sleepily.

“If I wake up suddenly and run, or hide...” Living on Quartz street alone for so long, and nearly dying, had keyed his instincts up higher than they'd been in years. She ought to know this, just in case. “...don't try to touch me.” His overeager instincts were different from Dwalin's battle dreams. He woke up fast and once he was awake he knew quickly what was going on, but for those few disoriented seconds he was likely to stab anyone who came close to him.

It had saved his life more than once.

“nkay.” she answered, yawning, and he continued slowly braiding her hair.

 

When Dwalin was sure of himself again, when his heart wasn't pounding and he knew he was at _home_ and he was _safe_ and there was no one who was trying to kill him or who needed saving – _never could reach them in time_ – he went looking for Nori.

Nori woke up on the lounge the instant Dwalin stepped into the room, blinking sleepily up at him across the dim room. Nori woke up faster to a quiet step than from Dwalin's normal tromping, just one of the thief's quirks he'd learned over the years. He would probably be on his feet and across the room by now if Dwalin had tried to be quiet so as not to wake him.

Dwalin's eyes followed Nori's arm down to a pile of cushions – Maylin curled up asleep under a blanket, Nori's hand resting on unfamiliar braids in his daughter's hair.

“She couldn't sleep.” Nori whispered in explanation, his eyes worried – as if asking if he'd done wrong. He was so often cautious and unsure around Maylin, it was good to see them forging a bond of their own. There had been friction and hurt feelings at first, with Maylin and Nori both used to his undivided attention and him unable to give it to them, but they'd been settling into something that seemed to keep them all happy. Nori had all of Dwalin's attention when Maylin was out with Leis or visiting her dam; and Maylin had Dwalin's full attention when Nori was out making trouble, which he did often. The rest of the time they shared.

It was good that they were learning to depend on _each other_ too.

He gave Nori's hand an affectionate squeeze to reassure him as he bent to scoop Maylin up, blanket and all, his daughter heavy and solid in his arms. She was growing so big...

“To bed, jewel.” he murmured soothingly, and she mumbled something that sounded like 'secrets' as she nuzzled into him. He carried her to her bed and Nori trailed behind, bringing her pillow.

They tucked her into bed and then Dwalin led Nori back to their room, trying very hard not to hold his hand _too_ hard, to not crush it.

“Do you... want to talk?” Nori asked as Dwalin pulled him into the bed to hold him tight, someone _here_ and _real_ and _alive_ to cling to.

Dwalin shook his head, “...same one, again.” He said.

“You did everything you could.” Nori reminded him again, the way he always did, and Dwalin _knew_ that but it did help to hear it in the voice of someone he loved, someone who loved him - someone who stroked his back and held him and who's breath and heartbeat he could hear under his ear.

He held tight to Nori, and he knew that when he woke up again the thief would still be here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter makes me think of that Lilo & Stitch quote. 
> 
> This is my family. I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.


	7. Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shameless OC shipping. Couldn't help myself.

“Nori, _help_.”

He looked up at the hulking warrior Maylin had grown into, her eyes pleading and not at _all_ dressed for her wedding yet. Big hands that could wield axe, sword, and hammer with deadly surety twisted fretfully in the front of her tunic like she was a nervous schoolchild.

“Ada's _useless,_ he won't stop crying and... and I don't _want_ to be married in crooked braids... and _help?_ ” she begged.

Beside him, Ori buried his face in his scarf to keep from snickering out loud, and Nori gave him a glare before patting Maylin's hand.

“I'll be right there.” he promised, and she smiled like the sun rising and hurried back away to where Dwalin was _supposed_ to be helping her get ready.

“I was with you the _entire_ time.” Nori informed Ori, and Ori nodded, eyes laughing. He was always good for an alibi – always had been. Nori had been with Dwalin long enough that his affection for Maylin was an open secret, but it wouldn't do at all to be tied as kin.

Not after all this time.

Nori slipped away, unseen, creeping his way into the room with Dwalin and Maylin unnoticed by any.

As Maylin had said, Dwalin was crying as he looked at her, as if he wasn't sure what to do with her – proud of course, and confused at when his baby _grew up_. They matched each other – Dwalin unbent with age but what was left of his hair almost all white now, her shoulders just as wide as his and almost as tall. She was like a vision of what Dwalin might have been as a stripling, every inch a warrior to make any parent proud. Dwalin was a warrior of songs and tales sure to pass into legend, and Maylin a worthy heir for him.

“Alright, shoo.” Nori said, waving Dwalin away, “Go stand guard or something, make yourself useful. I'll take care of Maylin.”

Dwalin's relief was almost painful. Standing guard he _knew_ how to do. He grabbed Nori in a bonecrushing hug, squeezed Maylin's shoulders while trying to say something that ended up choked in his tears, and left, shaking his head.

“Now, where's your new tunic?” he asked, feeling a little bit like he'd somehow turned into Dori when he wasn't paying attention.

“I can't. I'll wrinkle it.” She said desperately.

“You will if you treat it like _this_.” Nori said, untangling her nervously twisting hands from her tunic front, “But you _won't_.”

She seemed to notice what she was doing and stopped, her arms snapping down stiffly to her sides and her eyes miserable. That wasn't good, there had to be _something_ he could say to calm her down.

The tunic was hanging in the closet, a beautiful silken thing in Dwalin's gray-green, embroidered with line-of-Durin blue and natural cream and little glints of gold thread.

...he wanted to steal it, which was always a sure sign it was quality. _Worthy_ of royalty, this tunic.

“You're dressing for battle.” Nori told Maylin, holding the tunic out to her, “ _this_ is your armor.”

She breathed deep, chin coming up – much better. _Battle_ she understood, _battle_ did not scare her. She quickly ducked out of her everyday tunic and into the new one that matched the trousers she'd already put on, and Nori tugged at the edges, getting it settled on her.

“...what if she _realizes_ I'm not good enough... I mean, she's _sooo_... and I'm just...” Maylin said, very very quiet, he wouldn't have heard it at all if he weren't so close.

Nori stopped tugging at the tunic and held her face between his hands, meeting her worried eyes.

“You are _Maylin_ , daughter of Dwalin.” He told her firmly, “And you will always be _more_ than good enough. You are a proven warrior, and a scholar – honest and loyal to a fault.”

He gave her a small smile as she blushed at the praise, “...I don't know where I went wrong...” he sighed, “I _tried_ to corrupt you...”

She laughed at the old joke and he let her go – as long as she could laugh she'd be alright.

“...and you don't worry about _that_.” Nori told her quietly, going back to making sure her tunic was laying right. “She's never implied you're not good enough?”

“No.” Maylin answered, “ _Never_.”

“Then you don't worry about it.” Nori assured her, “She's chosen to love _you_ , so you trust her on that.”

Maylin nodded, surveying herself in her tunic. Nori stopped her hands when she went to tighten the laces at the throat.

“No.” he said, tugging it slightly more open, folding one side down artfully and leaning back to admire. The hollow of her throat was exposed, and just hint of powerful muscles and a light dusting of chest hair.

 _Perfect_.

She waved her hands vaguely, “But formal tunics are supposed to be...”

“Weddings are to show off and make everyone jealous.” Nori told her, “Really, what's the _point_ of a tunic like this if not to make people want to rip it off?”

“ _Nori!”_ Maylin was blushing again, but she puffed out her chest just a little as she looked in the mirror, and made no move to lace up the tunic.

“Not joking.” Nori told her, sitting her down and laying out her freshly polished boots, belt, and vambraces for her – at least Dwalin had managed that part of the preparation. He picked up a comb and began brushing her thick hair.

“Half the audience will be wishing they were in her place, the other half will be wishing they were in yours.” he told her, “...and the _very bad_ ones will be wishing they were between you.”

She was laughing at him again as she buckled on her vambraces and he began her braids. It really was true, a warrior like Maylin could have had as many lovers as she liked – but there was only one she wanted and she'd decided to _marry_ her.

“It's not too late, you could still change your mind.” Nori told her, to a snort and a brief headshake. Nerves aside, she'd been looking forward to this day a _long_ time.

“She's my One.” Maylin answered, and Nori smacked her upside the head, but gently.

“No such thing.” Nori told her.

“I've never wanted anyone else.” Maylin told him.

“Well, it's not the end of the world if you ever _do_.” Nori told her, “It doesn't mean you're disloyal, just that you're _alive_.”

“I don't think I will...” Maylin mused, “I've always wanted to be with her, protect her. I _knew_ it, the first time she kissed me...”

“mhmm?” Nori prompted, working on a particular twist in her braids, asking for the story if she wanted to share it. Anything to keep her from overthinking and making herself miserable again.

“We'd been sparring, like you and Ada do, and I'd _finally_ gotten her pinned, but she _cheated_.” Maylin's tone was fond and disbelieving, “She _kissed_ me, and it was...”

Maylin sighed happily, adjusting her belt, “Everything I didn't know I'd always wanted. So I kissed her back.”

She smiled as Nori switched sides, making sure her braids were turning out symmetrical.

“Then what?” he asked.

“She kicked me in the sternum and escaped!” Maylin was back to disbelief at the sheer dishonor of the fighting technique.

“Oh, well done her!” Nori praised, and he didn't feel the need to share that _he'd_ been the one to suggest the method – a sure way to both _win_ and finally get it through the warrior's thick skull that kisses were something that should be happening.

Not that he'd ever expected the two of them to be more than lovers.

He kept her talking, sharing happy memories, until her hair was all perfectly braided. There might be one or two people who would question whether Dwalin was really able to braid her hair this nicely, but Nori had _never been here_.

And it was almost _time_.

Maylin surveyed her braids in the mirror with a grim nod while Nori made sure her leathers were adjusted right.

Finally he settled her furs over her shoulders, the gray-white pelt of one of the fierce wolves that bred in the far north – she'd hunted it herself – buckling the straps of the harness that held her favorite axe on her back.

She was _perfect_ , looking a warrior of legend herself, and that was an objective judgment and not just because he loved her like she was his own.

And it was _time_ , he had to _go_. Dwalin could do the rest.

She put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing tight.

“Isn't this the part where you tell me you'll kill her if she hurts me?” she asked, clearly searching for _something_ to tame her nerves, her brief smile not quite fitting on her face.

“She _will_ hurt you.” Nori said, putting his hand over hers to hold it firmly, “And you'll hurt her. It just _happens_ , no matter how in love you are, no matter how good you try to be. Love is hard work.”

Her bottom lip trembled and Nori could feel his eyes stinging. _Fuck_ , he couldn't be crying too. Dwalin was more than teary enough for all of them.

“You _know_ if you ever... if you have to _go_ I'm behind you all the way? No questions asked.” he asked, “I'd do _anything_ for you, you know that?”

Maylin nodded, and she knew what he was offering her. She knew the story of Ljomi. She knew why marrying was a bad idea - they both did but they wanted it anyway.

He'd offered the same escape to them both. That was all he could do for them, if they were insisting on marrying each other.

Dwalin opened the door, “Coast's clear, you should...” He managed, before he caught sight of Maylin and choked up again.

Nori stretched up to kiss her on the cheek and stepped back.

“Into battle.” he reminded. There was nothing more he could do. He kissed Dwalin too on his way out – and crept away unseen to find Ori just in time to be rounded up and brought into the great hall for the wedding itself.

Dwalin joined him soon enough, wiping his eyes on his sleeve and trying to pretend he wasn't crying, and the marrying couple entered the hall from opposite sides.

Maylin, fiercely beautiful with her chin high and her axe on her back, striding through the hall to the center – there could not be a more perfect representation of a Dwarven warrior.

Leis swept in, looking every inch the Queen she would someday be. Fili's knives rested on her hips and there were opals adorning her dark-honey hair, a touch of rouge on her lips.

They clasped hands as they met, circling once before they settled. They had eyes for no one else as they recited the age-old vows. Dwalin was sniffling again, and Nori could see tears falling down Queen Dis' face as she watched her daughter wed.

It was a royal wedding, they couldn't get away with shortening the vows so it took longer than most, but both of them remembered their lines and delivered them perfectly to each other.

When the last words had been spoken and the ceremony was over they paused for a moment, just _looking_ at each other with tiny almost-disbelieving smiles before they turned to face everyone – the people of Nurgathol that they would someday rule together as Queen and Consort.

The crowd erupted in wild cheering, and the girls he'd sparred with and told stories to and watched grow up held up their joined hands in victory. Princess and Warrior, wedded now and bound together before everyone.

They'd done it, they really had, and Nori's eyes were _not_ stinging, they were _not_ because Dwalin was crying enough for both of them.

“When did she grow up?” He asked, “She was my _baby_. Her dam handed her to me and she was so _tiny_ , just this big!” he held out his two big hands cupped, “She was so perfect. I thought I was going to break her...”

“Come on.” Nori said, putting an arm around Dwalin and hauling the old warrior along, “We don't want to miss the feast.” There would be mead at the feast, and Nori definitely needed some.

“And then she screamed – loud enough to break the mountains – and I _knew_ she'd be a warrior.” Dwalin continued, “Didn't know she'd be my daughter but I knew – and she _is_ , and she's all grown up and married now?”

“To Maylin!” Nori said, grabbing two tankards of mead and pressing one into Dwalin's hand, ignoring all the congratulating Dwarves surrounding them.

“To our girl.” Dwalin said thickly, cracking their tankards together.

And Nori could drink to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that folks!  
> I'll be taking a short break, but then I'll be back with new fics full of fluff, smut, and angst!  
> -Ts
> 
> Now with art of the wedding by the wonderful Sparkle!  
> http://asparklethatisblue.tumblr.com/post/73554197714/maylin-daughter-of-dwalin-and-leis-daughter-of


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